New SAT studies find writing section helps predict how freshmen fare

Since the SAT added a writing section three years ago, much has been made of the additional 45 minutes that came with it, extending the grueling college entrance exam to nearly four hours.

Now a pair of studies, one national and another in New Jersey, have weighed in over new test for the first time and suggested the extra testing may indeed prove helpful in predicting how kids will do in college.

The College Board, which oversees the SAT, analyzed scores against the students' grade point averages as college freshmen. In the report released today, the board said the SAT remained a strong predictor of college success, especially the new writing section.

"Colleges not requiring an admissions test with writing are overlooking one of the best predictors of college success to which they have access," said Gaston Caperton, the board's president.

In New Jersey, Rutgers University did its own internal study as well, analyzing the scores and grades of 12,000 freshmen over the last two years and also finding the SAT's writing section as the strongest predictor. The other two sections are math and critical reading.

Rutgers' top admissions official said yesterday that after two years of gauging the new writing section, the state's largest university will begin to factor its scores into admissions decisions next year.

"We were all skeptics, and that's why we looked at it ourselves," said Courtney McAnuff, Rutgers' vice president for enrollment management. "We've seen the validity."

The studies -- especially one coming from the sponsor of the test -- are hardly expected to quell the long-time debates over the value of SAT, both before and after the revisions.

Long-time critics contend there are inherent racial and class biases and other flaws in the exam that the revisions did little to erase. Some today said the College Board's latest report was only intended to bolster its test against mounting criticism -- not to mention kids turning to alternatives like the writing-optional ACT exam.

"It's pretty transparent why they were doing the study," said Scott White, guidance director at Montclair High School who led an unsuccessful campaign to break up the new test. "They are trying to sell a test that hasn't been gaining any traction."

Others on the front line of the admissions process said they are still weighing the changes to the SAT, but the College Board's latest study should help its case with colleges that were on the fence.